


I See Colors

by lalune15



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, Kid Fic, Kidfic, M/M, No Smut, Oneshot, Soulmates, anne is actually a major character haha, based on that popular tumblr post, it's super minor kidfic though, like they don't even have names, soul mates, you can't see colors until you meet your soulmate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 10:26:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3484817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalune15/pseuds/lalune15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You can't see colors until you meet your soulmate. Harry meets his when he's sixteen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I See Colors

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so I told myself I wasn't going to write any more 1d fanfiction, but I kept seeing that tumblr post about a soulmate au where you can't see colors until you mate your soulmate and this happened. I wrote it in two hours while I avoided homework and listened to Synesthesia by Andrew McMahon, which is where the title comes from. Let me know if you like it or hate it? Also, I don't have a beta and I didn't spellcheck, so I apologize for any errors. Is soulmate one word or two?

Harry’s five when he learns some people don’t see the world like he does.

“Mum, what do you mean things are different when you’re older?” he asks, looking up at her with wide, questioning eyes as they walk home from school.

“Well, Harry, when you meet your soulmate, everything changes,” she explains, looking down at him as they step over a puddle, Harry’s rain boots barely making it across. “Right now you see everything in black and white, but when you meet your soulmate it all becomes color. Trees are actually green and the sky is blue and the sun is yellow.”

“Do you see things in color, mum?” Harry asks.

Anne sighs. “No, baby,” she tells him. “I still see everything in black and white.”

Harry opens his mouth to ask her why, but gets distracted by the dog he sees walking across the street. He runs over to pet it, forgetting to ask Anne what it means to find your soulmate.

+

Harry is seven when he begins to understand what a soulmate means.

“Mum, how come dad wasn’t your soulmate?” He asks as she makes dinner, chopping vegetables and singing along to the Beatles on the radio.

“Soulmates are a funny thing,” she answers. “There’s one person in the whole world who’s meant for you and no one else, and you might never meet him. Or her. Or you might not meet them until you’re really old. Your dad wasn’t my soulmate but I did love him very much.”

“Why did you marry him if he wasn’t your soulmate?” Harry wonders, swiping a carrot off her cutting board, narrowly missing getting his fingers sliced.

“Because I loved him and he loved me,” Anne says, smacking Harry’s hand as it reaches for another. “And without him I would have never had you or Gemma, and that is the most important thing I could have asked for. I didn’t want to risk never finding my soulmate and never having kids.”

“That makes me sad, mum,” Harry says. “What if you live in the dark forever?”

“Oh, Harry,” Anne smiles. “Just because I haven’t met my soulmate doesn’t mean my world is dark.”

“What do you mean?” Harry asks, knitting his eyebrows together in confusion.

“You’ll find out when you’re older, baby,” Anne tells him. “I have no doubt.”

+

Harry is thirteen when his mother meets her soulmate at Tesco. Gemma’s in one of her immature moods, chasing him down the cereal aisle, when he bumps into a portly man looking over a box of Cheerios.

“I’m so sorry,” Harry stammers, looking at the man in surprise as his mum speeds towards him and Gemma, eyes dark with fury.

“Harry, honestly, you’re thirteen not three and-oh!” She gasps as her eyes meet the man’s.

“Mum?” Harry asks, watching nervously as his mother gapes at the starry-eyed man across from her.

“Um…” She stutters, pushing her hair out of her eyes. “Harry, go find your sister and finish the rest of the list. I’ll meet you by the registers. Ok?”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Harry asks, taking in the way his mum and this stranger are blushing and looking around, in shock and awe at the same time.

“Just fine, baby. Please go find Gem, I’ll see you in a few.” Harry finds out after dinner that night that the man’s name is Robin, and his mum saw colors the second she looked into his eyes.

“Mum?” Harry asks later, as his mum watches a movie, taking in the colors for the first time. Everything is completely different in color, she tells him and Gemma that night over dinner. Who knew their car was orange and their couches and chairs were all completely mismatched?

“Yes, Harry?” She asks, pausing the film to look at him.

“What do I look like in color?”

Anne smiles. “Beautiful, Harry. Just beautiful. You and your sister are the most gorgeous people I’ve ever seen.”

“But, like…” Harry trails off. “What do I _look_ like?”

“Well,” Anne begins. “Your curls are dark brown. Your eyes are green. And your skin is pale but not in a sickly way. You look…you look so handsome in color, Harry.”

Harry sighs, frowning.

“What’s wrong, Harry?”

“It just…it doesn’t mean anything to me,” Harry mumbles. “How do I know what’s green and what’s brown? I know trees are green, but that doesn’t mean I know what green looks like. What if what I picture green to be and what green actually is are two different things?”

“Don’t look so glum, love,” Anne assures him. “You’ll find out.”

“But what if I don’t find out until I’m old, Mum?” Harry cries. “I want to get married and have kids and I don’t want to do it with someone I’m not meant to be with! And I want to see the color of the sky and the color of your eyes and I want to know what they mean! I don’t want to live in…this blah world forever!”

Anne opens her arms, closing them around Harry when he steps in towards her. “Harry, love, I know it’s scary. But I promise you’ll meet your soulmate before it’s too late. I know you will. And when you do, you’ll know what colors are and how they look to you. But your soulmate will be the best colors to you. They’ll be the colors you see first. And you won’t have to wait until you’re thirty to find out what they are.”

“Really?” Harry sniffs, turning his nose into her neck.

“Of course, babe. But don’t tell you sister. I’ve never said that to her.”

Harry smiles and Anne winks. “You’ll meet him or her before you know it, Harry. I know you. You won’t fall in love unless it’s for keeps.”

+

Harry is fourteen when his best friend meets his soulmate. Liam is walking out of school when he bumps into a girl from the year below him.

“I’m sorry,” he begins to say, the words falling from his mouth when their eyes meet.

“Liam?” Harry asks, looking between Liam and the girl, staring at each other in a way he’s seen before. “I…” he starts, unable to tear his eyes from the blushing girl, until he feels his books drop onto his foot. Harry rushes over to help Liam as he sinks to the ground, grabbing scattered papers and books.

“Li, what just happened?” Harry murmurs, keeping his voice low so no one hears them.

“I just met my soulmate,” he hisses back, haphazardly stacking papers together.

“You what?” Harry asks, looking up at the girl, who’s playing with the ends of her long hair, looking at Liam with a smile.

“She’s it,” Liam says. “She’s the one.”

“So…you can see color?” Harry asks. “What does everything look like?”

“I can’t tell you,” Liam answers, pushing off his feet to stand back up. “I haven’t looked at anything but her.”

+

Harry is sixteen when he meets his soulmate. He and Liam are playing football in the park, Liam’s soulmate Sophia tanning on a blanket nearby with her best friend, Eleanor.

“Harry, go grab the ball!” Liam yells after Harry kicks it wildly in the wrong direction. He chases it down, only to see someone else pick it up.

“Here you go, mate,” The boy says, stretching his arms out to hand Harry the ball. Harry looks up to meet his eyes and sucks in his breath, feeling his heart beat against his chest like a stampede. The boy across from him is standing shell-shocked, eyes wide and mouth turned up in a small grin.

“I-“ Harry stutters, then stops himself, feeling his brain go blank. There’s so much to look at suddenly, he doesn’t know where to begin. His eyes seem locked to the boys’ across from him, blue and clear and brilliant.

“I’m Louis,” the boy says, tucking the ball under his elbow and stretching out his arm.

“Harry,” he responds weakly, grabbing Louis’ palm to shake. His whole body sparks when their hands meet, like he’s been struck by a bolt of lightning.

“Come on, then!” Louis yells, tugging on his hand as he begins to run.

“Where are we going?” Harry yells back, voice shaking as they weave through children playing and adults walking by.

“Don’t you want to see what you look like?” Louis asks happily, voice dancing with amusement. Harry speeds up, running past a very confused Liam standing with his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth hanging open.

“I’ve gone to see my soulmate, Li!” Harry yells as they run past, holding his other hand out in a wave. Louis laughs they leave Liam behind, pulling Harry down the street to a café on the corner. They skid to a halt, panting heavily as they pause outside the door.

“There’s got to be a mirror in the loo,” Louis explains. “Let’s look into it together, yeah?”

Harry nods as Louis leads them past the customers into the bathroom, unable to focus on much besides his wildly beating heart and his sweaty hand, still linked with Louis’ smaller one. “On the count of three, okay?” Louis asks as they move in front of the row of basins, looking at the floor.

“Ok,” Harry agrees quickly, bouncing on the balls of his feet. This is it for him and he doesn’t know how to process anything besides the hand folded in his.

“1…2…3,” Louis counts, both their heads snapping up as he recites the final number.

“Fuck,” Harry swears as he looks in the mirror, looking at his green eyes illuminated under the yellow glow of the fluorescent lighting. “I’m…” “Beautiful,” Louis supplies, looking at Harry in the mirror. “You’re beautiful, Harry.”

“Me?” Harry sputters. “Have you looked at yourself?” He exclaims, turning to look at Louis in person.

“Not really,” Louis replies, tilting his head as his eyes crinkle, smiling at Harry. “Not much at all, if I’m honest.”

“Go on,” Harry breathes, nudging Louis’ van-covered foot with his converse. “You’re not bad yourself, you know.”

Louis turns back to the mirror, pupils blowing up as he takes in his own appearance. “Whoa,” he laughs. “This is like, crazy, you know? Like you always hear the sky is blue but it doesn’t mean anything and then, like, all of a sudden you know what blue is but the sky is blue and my eyes are blue and the stripes on my shirt are blue too, but they’re not the same? It’s just…it’s utterly bizarre,” he laughs again, cheeks blushing under harsh lighting.

“Bizarre,” Harry agrees, squeezing Louis’ palm. “Totally bizarre but it makes sense at the same time.”

“It does,” Louis agrees, squeezing his palm in return.

Harry and Louis take note of all the different colors they find. The green of the trees is not the green of Harry’s eyes, which is different from the green of the M&M’s Louis pours into his palm as they try to toss candy into each others’ mouths.

Black is the color everything was before Harry met Louis, but it’s also the color of Louis’ best friend, Zayn’s hair, and the color of the eyeliner his soulmate smears around her eyes.

Brown is the color of mud, but it’s also the color of their friend Niall’s guitar, which Harry listened to him play for hours before introducing himself and Louis to Niall following his set over cups of brown coffee.

Blue is Harry’s favorite though. If he could only see one color the rest of his life, it would be the blue of Louis’ eyes. Not the blue of the ocean they see when they travel to Brighton, or the blue of Gemma’s hair after she dyes it in a fit of boredom when her boyfriend broke up with her, after he meets his soulmate on a flight from Spain. “What’s the point?” She had responded when Harry asked her why she would do that to her hair when she can’t even see it.

“My soulmate won’t know I have blue hair until he meets me, and by the time he does, it’s too late! It’ll give everyone else something to look at until I can see it for myself.”

There’s only one blue Harry prefers over all others. There’s only one blue he wants to see until he can’t see colors anymore.

+

Harry is seventeen and Louis is nineteen when they find out what it really means to have a soulmate. They’re at the cinema, watching a superhero movie Louis dragged Harry to, when it happens. Harry jumps as the woman a row in front of them lets out a bloodcurling scream. She starts hyperventilating, looking around the theater with fear in her panicked eyes.

“Oh my god,” she gasps. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!” She repeats in a strangled voice as tears fall from her eyes and she stands to run but can’t move, collapsing onto the ground. Louis gets up to help her as Harry follows behind, unable to look away from the shaking, moaning woman in agony by Louis’ feet.

“Are you alright?” Louis asks as he crouches down to her level. Everyone in the theater has turned to watch, and someone has already called for help.

“It’s black and white,” she sobs, choking on her words. “It’s all black and white,” she whispers before passing out, Louis’ hands preventing her head from hitting the ground.

Anne jumps as Harry slams the front door behind himself and Louis, calling out for her. “Mum?” He yells, storming into the kitchen where she and Robin are poring over a wedding magazine. “Harry, love, what’s wrong?” She asks, taking in Harry’s wild eyes and Louis’ pallor, a sickly pale underneath his usual golden tan.

“I don’t know mum,” Harry mutters, looking on the verge of tears. He sinks into a chair and runs a hand through his curls.

“We were watching a movie,” Louis explains, “when a woman in front of us started screaming about everything being black and white before she passed out. An ambulance took her to hospital but she had woken up and was crying and screaming about her husband and the colors being gone…” he trails off, biting his bottom lip, clearly shaken and confused. Anne looks at Robin, a silent question in her eyes, and he begins to make tea as she occupies his seat, gesturing for Louis to sit across from her.

“I don’t understand what happened, mum,” Harry says, voice wavering. “I’ve never seen anything like that.” Anne grabs his hand, his other firmly grasped in Louis’. She’s silent for a moment, trying to find the proper phrasing.

“Well, boys, the thing is…” she starts, noting the way Louis squeezes Harry’s hand and moves closer. He’s figured out what she’s about to say. “When you meet your soulmate, you see everything in color. But, before you do, you see everything in black and white. And that’s what happens when your soulmate dies,” she explains, looking carefully at Harry as he begins to cry.

“So that woman’s husband had died while she was watching the movie?” He asks, angrily wiping tears away from his eyes. “And she had no idea it was coming? That’s so unfair!” He buries his head in Louis’ neck as Louis lets go of his hand to wrap an arm around him.

“I’m sorry, baby,” Anne says to Harry. “I’m sorry you had to see that and you had to find out that way. But life is unfair sometimes,” she adds gently. “It’s the most terrifying that can happen, I think,” she says, “seeing your entire world lose color before your eyes.” Harry just nods and Anne sighs, leading Robin out of the kitchen as Louis continues to hold Harry in his arms.

After Harry begged his mum to let Louis stay the night, they’re lying side by side in his narrow twin bed, unable to fall asleep.

“Harry?” Louis asks quietly.

“Yeah, Lou,” Harry says into the darkness, feeling Louis turn to look at him.

“I promise I’ll never do that to you,” Louis swears, reaching out to hold on to him. “I promise I’ll never make you lose color like that. Ever.”

“Sure,” Harry answers shakily, knowing it’s impossible to make a promise like that.

“No, Harry, you don’t understand,” Louis says fiercely. “I will never do that to you. And you are not allowed to do that to me. Do you understand?” Harry nods, wrapping his arms around Louis as he rests his head on Harry’s chest. “You’re not allowed to do that to me, Harry,” Louis whispers again. “I’ve no interest in living without color, and I won’t do it. I refuse to live in a black and white world now that you’ve brought the color in. Ok?”

Harry ducks his head, dropping a kiss on top of Louis’ hair. “Ok.”

+

Harry is twenty-two and Louis is twenty-four when they get married. He is twenty-four and Louis is twenty-six when they adopt their daughter, and their entire world gets brighter, each color saturated and highlighted. It only gets brighter as they adopt their son two years later, and their second son three years after that.

“I see what you mean, mum,” Harry says one night, as he rocks their baby in his arms, watching Louis play football in the garden with their other two children.

“What do you mean, love?” She asks from Harry’s couch, where she and Robin are drinking tea, Harry and Louis’ dog lying by her feet.

“I could be without Louis, and everything would be black and white,” he tells her as his son’s eyes flutter closed. “But it could never be dark. Not with the kids.”

Anne smiles. “I told you you’d understand one day.”

“It’s just better in color,” Harry says. “I’m happy I didn’t have to wait.”

“I knew you wouldn’t have to,” Anne tells him. “I knew you would only fall in love once.”

Harry looks at Louis swinging their daughter onto his shoulders, wooping as he runs her around the yard. “Once was enough,” he says. “Once is all I needed.”


End file.
